Wednesday, March 3, 2010

One Million Arrows by Julie Ferwerda

I’ll start by letting you know Julie Ferwerda likes the movie What About Bob and if that doesn’t make her cool enough in my book, reading One Million Arrowssecured her high status on my cool meter.

As soon as I received One Million Arrows in the mail I felt energized and excited. The subtitle of this book is Raising Your Children to Change the World. More than the happiness of my children, their day to day comfort, I’ve prayed for them to live resilient, Christ-empowered lives. I’ve prayed they trust God as they encounter tragedy and overcome with His love as their refuge. Having prayed those prayers, you understand why I celebrated when the book made it to my mailbox.

Emphasizing the butterfly effect Ferwerda writes, “If a single butterfly can leave a mark on the world through simply doing what it was made to do—flapping its wings—what could we accomplish as humans made in God’s image if we were to do what God has made us to do?” That question is a thread beautifully woven throughout each chapter.

Within the first few pages Ferwerda introduces a man named Dr. M.A. Thomas (fondly known as Papa to those he’s impacted). His vision of helping the orphaned and abandoned children in India revolutionizes the way one might ordinarily react to suffering. He felt bothered, but he decided to pray and act upon those feelings. He asked God what could be done to help and God showed him. So far “more than 16,000 broken children’s lives have been gathered and restored through his love, with at least two-thirds of those devoting their lives to full-time ministry.”

“God said that all children are arrows in the hands of the mighty Man, Jesus Christ. All we have to do in order to evangelize to the whole world is to take the arrow and place them into Jesus’ hands.”

~ Dr. M.A. Thomas

The rest of the book is replete with examples of parents who are actively taking risks to instill an eternal perspective in their children, who are encouraging missions work, investing financially and who are becoming less comfortable so that others have the opportunity to learn about Jesus. ~~~I appreciate how Ferwerda challenged me to think about my intentions as a parent. She authentically motivates contemplation about the parental role and invites parents to disciple to their children by gathering, sharpening and launching them into the world.

I loved being invited to take part in this blog tour and I’d highly recommend this read.

“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. As arrows are in the hands of a warrior, so are children of one’s youth. Happy, blessed, and fortunate is the man whose quiver is filled with them!” (AMP)

15 comments:

Wendy, oh, this sounds like a wonderful book! I've also been recommending the books of Raul Esquith, including "Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire." A different, albeit vital, look at raising world changers.

Blessings and thanks for this wonderful blog!Pattiwww.pattilacy.com/blog